U.S. patent number 5,584,100 [Application Number 08/190,024] was granted by the patent office on 1996-12-17 for hinge.
Invention is credited to Mark Cumming, David Doyle, Neil Dunne.
United States Patent |
5,584,100 |
Doyle , et al. |
December 17, 1996 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ( Reexamination Certificate
) ** |
Hinge
Abstract
The hinge comprises a first hinge member (11) and a second hinge
member (12). The first hinge member comprises a cylindrical housing
(16) having first and second open ends (17 and 18 respectively).
The cylindrical housing (16) is located between flange members (26
and 27) of the second hinge member (12). A torsion spring (20) is
provided inside the cylindrical housing (16) and one end (21) fits
into a recess (22) at end (18) of the cylindrical housing (16) and
the other end fits into a recess (36) in a coupling element (30)
which is located at the other end (17) of the cylindrical housing
(16). The coupling element (30) has a hexagonal engagement surface
(39) which engages a matching engagement surface in flange (27). By
depressing the coupling element (30) so that it is no longer in
engagement with flange member (27), the coupling element (30) can
be turned so that its hexagonal external surface (39) is in a
different orientation with respect to the matching hexagonal
surface of the flange (27), when pressure on the coupling element
is released.
Inventors: |
Doyle; David (Neutral Bay New
South Wales 2089, AU), Dunne; Neil (Cammeray New
South Wales 2062, AU), Cumming; Mark (Niagara Park
New South Wales 2250, AU) |
Family
ID: |
3775588 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/190,024 |
Filed: |
January 28, 1994 |
PCT
Filed: |
July 29, 1992 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/AU92/00392 |
371
Date: |
January 28, 1994 |
102(e)
Date: |
January 28, 1994 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO93/03249 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
February 18, 1993 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
Current U.S.
Class: |
16/301; 16/300;
16/299 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E05F
1/1215 (20130101); Y10T 16/538627 (20150115); E05Y
2900/40 (20130101); E05Y 2900/132 (20130101); Y10T
16/538633 (20150115); Y10T 16/53862 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
E05F
1/00 (20060101); E05F 1/12 (20060101); E05F
001/08 () |
Field of
Search: |
;16/298-301 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
63251/60 |
|
May 1963 |
|
AU |
|
1961736 |
|
Jun 1971 |
|
DE |
|
29217 |
|
Sep 1931 |
|
GB |
|
759211 |
|
Oct 1956 |
|
GB |
|
1382227 |
|
Jan 1975 |
|
GB |
|
Primary Examiner: Rachuba; M.
Assistant Examiner: Gurley; Donald M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Davis and Bujold
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A hinge, comprising a first hinge element including a hollow
cylindrical housing having longitudinal central axis and a hinge
body portion having means for securing said first hinge element to
a structure, a second hinge element including first and second
spaced apart end pieces receiving the cylindrical housing of the
first hinge element therebetween, and a hinge body portion arranged
to be secured to a second structure, biasing means being located
within the cylindrical housing and coupling the first hinge element
to a coupling element, said coupling element having a first portion
received within one end of the cylindrical housing and having a
cylindrical bearing surface bearing against an inner wall of the
cylindrical housing, whereby the biasing means is arranged to
restrain relative rotation of the coupling element with respect to
the first hinge element about said central axis, the coupling
element further including a second portion having a first
engagement surface means being received within an aperture provided
in the first end piece of the second hinge element, said aperture
having a correspondingly shaped mating engagement surface means for
preventing relative between said second hinge element and said
coupling element, the biasing means also resiliently biasing the
coupling element in a direction axially outwardly of the
cylindrical housing along said central axis urging the second
portion to engage with the aperture of the first end piece so that
when the second hinge element is pivoted with respect to the first
hinge element the coupling element rotates with the second hinge
element and the bearing surface of the first portion rotates
against the inner wall of the cylindrical housing.
2. A hinge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the engagement
surface means of the coupling element is disengageable from the
corresponding mating engagement surface means of the first end of
the second hinge element by moving the coupling element against the
bias of the biasing means axially inwardly along the central axis
towards the cylindrical housing and torsion applied by the biasing
means between the first and second hinge elements, via the coupling
element, may be adjusted by rotating the engagement surface means
relative to each other and subsequently releasing the coupling
element to cause the engagement surface means to re-engage in a new
relative orientation.
3. A hinge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the biasing means is
a torsion spring.
4. A hinge in accordance with claim 1, the end pieces of the second
hinge element comprising respective flanges, each flange having an
aperture therethrough.
5. A hinge in accordance with claim 1, the second end piece of the
second hinge element bearing on a further coupling element received
within the opposite end of the cylindrical housing to the first
coupling element and the second end piece being rotatable relative
to the further coupling element.
6. A hinge in accordance with claim 5, the further coupling element
including a further engagement surface arranged to engage with a
corresponding further engagement surface within the cylindrical
housing in the first hinge element, the further coupling element
being moveable against the bias of the biasing means to disengage
the further engagement surface whereby the orientation of the
further engagement surface relative to the cylindrical housing may
be changed in order to change the bias applied by the biasing means
between the first and second hinge elements.
Description
This invention relates to a hinge and in particular, a hinge which
is biased into either an open or a closed position.
Hinges of the above type are used in many applications. Self
closing hinges are often required by law to be employed in safety
pool fences to form part of a self closing mechanism for the pool
gate. Applications for self opening hinges include access doorways
and doors in public toilets.
A typical self closing hinge comprises first and second hinge
members formed from pressed metal. A hinge pin interconnects the
first and second members and the members are pivotal about the
hinge pin such that they are movable between an open and closed
position. A helical spring is located around the hinge pin and is
connected directly to the first and second hinge members. This
helical spring acts as a torsion spring to bias the members into
either the open or closed positions.
The problem with the above type of hinge is that adjustment of the
torsion acting on the members is often not possible without
replacing the spring. In some cases very limited adjustment is
possible through tightening of a grub screw located in one of the
housings, but in the past this type of adjustment has been found to
be ineffective. Furthermore, as the parts of the hinge are made
from metal, the performance characteristics of the hinge in the
long term can diminish as the parts are susceptible to
corrosion.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a hinge which, in at
least a preferred embodiment, ameliorates many of the problems of
the prior art and provides a hinge which is economic to manufacture
yet has improved performance characteristics.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a hinge comprising
first and second hinge members coupled together by coupling means
to be pivotably movable between an open and a closed position, and
a torsion spring having a first end connected to the first hinge
member and a second end connected to the coupling means, the
coupling means being further arranged to translate torque from the
torsion spring to the second hinge member such that the torsion
spring biases said hinge members into either the open or the closed
position.
By connecting one end of the torsion spring directly to the
coupling means, which in turn translates the torsion to the second
hinge member, the applicant has found that it enables much greater
freedom in the design of the hinge. With this arrangement the
coupling member can be arranged to be movable relative to the hinge
member to enable adjustment of the torsion acting on the hinge
member without the need to replace the spring. Furthermore, it
enables the hinge member and the coupling means to be made from
plastics material such as a glass reinforced nylon. With this
arrangement, all the bearing surfaces within the hinge can be made
from the plastics material. This has the benefit that bearings are
generally stronger than the bearings formed from the pressed metal
members and are less likely to deform out of shape and as such the
performance characteristics of the hinge will not diminish in the
long term.
In a preferred embodiment, the coupling means includes a coupling
element to which the second end of the torsion spring is connected,
the coupling element being rotatable relative to the hinge members
between a plurality of first positions, wherein rotation of the
coupling element between the first positions varies the torque from
the torsion spring acting on the coupling element such that there
is a predetermined torque level corresponding to each first
position and wherein in each first position, the coupling element
translates its corresponding torque from the torsion spring to the
second hinge member.
Preferably the coupling element is movable to a second position
wherein it is free to rotate relative to the hinge members. In this
second position the coupling element is able to move between the
first positions.
In a preferred embodiment the torsion spring is in the form of a
helical spring and the coupling element is biased into the first
position by the helical spring. In this arrangement to move the
coupling element to the second position it is necessary to compress
the helical spring.
Preferably the first hinge incorporates a cylindrical housing
having a first and a second end and in which the torsion spring is
arranged to be located. In this arrangement the second hinge member
incorporates parallel spaced flanges which are arranged to be
located over the first and second ends of the housing. Preferably
the coupling means comprises a first coupling element which couples
the first flange to the first end of the housing and a second
coupling element which is arranged to couple the second end of the
housing to the second flange.
One preferred form of the invention will now be described by way of
example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in
which:
FIG. 1 is a top view of the hinge embodying the present invention
in a closed position;
FIG. 2 is the hinge of FIG. 1 in an open position;
FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view of the hinge of FIG. 1 along
section line A--A;
FIG. 4 is the sectional view of FIG. 3 with the cap removed and the
first coupling element in the second position;
FIG. 5 is an angled view of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4,
with the cylindrical housing shown partly cut away; and
FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention in a
sectional plan view.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, a hinge 10 is disclosed comprising
hinge members 11 and 12 which are typically made from moulded glass
reinforced nylon. The first hinge member 11 comprises an outer
portion 13 arranged to be secured to a structure (not shown) such
as a door frame or a gate post through apertures 14. The first
hinge member further includes an inner portion 15 which comprises a
cylindrical housing 16 having first and second open ends (17 and 18
respectively). A seat 19 is located within the housing 16 adjacent
the second end 18.
A helical steel spring 20 (shown in phantom) is arranged to be
located within the housing 16 and has a first end 21 which is
arranged to be keyed to the seat 19 through recess 22. In this way,
the first end 21 of the spring 20 is secured relative to the first
hinge member 11.
The second hinge member incorporates an outer portion 23 which is
similar in construction to the outer portion 13 of the first member
11. The outer portion 23 includes apertures 24 which are arranged
to connect the second hinge member 12 to a door or gate (not
shown). The second hinge member 12 further incorporates an inner
portion 25 comprising two spaced flange members 26 and 27. The
flange members are arranged to be located over the first and second
ends (17 and 18) of the housing and both the flange members
incorporate apertures 28 (FIG. 4) and 29 which communicate with the
respective ends (17 and 18) of the cylindrical housing 16.
First and second coupling elements 30 and 43 are arranged to couple
the first hinge member 11 to the second hinge member 12 in a manner
which enables the flange member 26 and 27 to pivot about the
housing 16 such that they are movable from a closed position as
shown in FIG. 1 to an open position as shown in FIG. 2.
The first coupling element 30 incorporates a head portion 32 and a
body portion 33. In a first position as shown in FIG. 3, the head
portion 32 is arranged to be located in the aperture 28 of the
flange 26 with the body portion 33 located within the housing 16.
As will be further explained below, in the first position, the
first coupling element 30 is secured relative to the flange member
26 by virtue of the engagement of the head portion 32 within the
aperture 28 such that the second hinge member 12 is caused to
rotate about the housing 16 with rotation of the first coupling
element 30.
In contrast, the outer wall surface 34 of the body portion 33 is
arranged to slidingly engage the inner wall surface 35 of the
housing 16. In this way, the outer wall surface 34 of the body
portion cooperates with the inner wall surface 35 of the housing to
provide one of the bearing surfaces about which the first hinge
member 11 moves relative to the second hinge member 12 between the
open and the closed positions.
In addition, the body portion 33 of the first coupling element 30
incorporates a recess 36 into which the second end 37 of the spring
20 is arranged to be keyed. In this way, the spring 20 is securely
connected to the first coupling element 30.
As indicated above, in the first position, the head portion 32 of
the first coupling element 30 is arranged to engage the aperture
28. As shown in FIG. 5 the head portion of the first coupling
element incorporates two sections, namely a top section 38 which is
a circular cross section and an intermediate section 39 which is
hexagonal in cross section. The top and intermediate sections are
sized such that the diameter of the circular top section 38 is the
same as the minor axis of the hexagonal intermediate section 39.
Furthermore, the top section 38 incorporates a slot 40 suitable for
accommodating a screw driver (not shown).
The aperture 28 is shaped to correspond with the top section 38 and
intermediate section 39 of the head portion and as such
incorporates a corresponding circular shaped portion 41 and
hexagonally shaped portion 42.
When in the first position, the head portion is arranged such that
the top section 38 is located in the corresponding circular shaped
part 41 of the aperture 28 and the intermediate section 39 is
located in the corresponding hexagonal shaped portion 42 of the
aperture 28. With this arrangement the second hinge member 12 and
the first coupling element 30 are coupled together and rotate
together about the housing 16.
The first coupling element 30 is movable along the axis of the
housing to a second position as shown in FIG. 4. To move from the
first to the second position it is necessary to compress the spring
20. Once in the second position, the intermediate section 39 of the
first coupling element 30 is no longer located within the
hexagonally shaped portion 42 of the aperture 28. As a consequence
the first coupling element 30 is uncoupled from the second hinge
member 12 and is able to rotate relative to both the first and
second hinge members within the housing 16.
Furthermore, as the intermediate portion is hexagonally shaped,
when in the second position, the first coupling element 30 can be
rotated relative to the second hinge member and in one 360.degree.
revolution, there will be six different positions wherein the
hexagonally shaped intermediate section 39 will align with the
hexagonally shaped portion 42 of the aperture 28.
The second coupling element 43 extends through the aperture 29 and
into the second end 18 of the housing 16. In contrast to the first
coupling element 30, the second coupling element 43 is secured
relative to the housing 16 but is rotatable relative to the second
hinge member 12.
The second coupling element 43 is secured relative to the housing
16 by being bolted to the seat 19. Typically a bolt (not shown)
passes through the second coupling element 43 and engages with a
corresponding thread or nut (not shown) formed in the seat 19. To
further assist in securing the second coupling element 43 to the
seat 19, the second coupling element incorporates a recess 44 which
cooperates with the recess 22 located in the seat 19 and is
arranged to receive the end portion of the first end 21 of the
spring 20. This effectively keys the second coupling element 43 to
the seat 19.
With the arrangement of the second coupling element, the wall
surface 45 of the second coupling element 43 cooperates with the
internal surface 46 of the aperture 29 to provide the other of the
bearing surfaces about which the hinge members 11 and 12 rotate
from the open to the closed position.
A cap 47 is located on the top of the first flange member 26 and is
removably mounted to the first coupling element 30. A brass insert
48 is provided in the lower end of the coupling element 30 and is
aligned with a central bore 49 extending through the coupling
element 30. The brass insert is a cylindrical tube having an
internal thread which is arranged to receive a screw for connecting
the cap 47 to the coupling element 30 (see FIG. 5). This cap 47
covers the head portion 32 of the first coupling element and is
shaped to have the same profile as that of the second coupling
element.
The hinge is arranged to operate as follows:
Depending on whether the hinge 10 is to be a self opening or self
closing hinge, a suitable helical spring 20 (ie. left or right hand
wound) is chosen. To assemble the various elements of the hinge
together, it is merely necessary to locate the spring 20 in the
housing 16 with its first end 21 in the recess 22. The first
coupling element 30 is then connected to the second end of the
spring and is forced against the spring to be located wholly within
the housing 16. The second hinge member 12 is then positioned such
that the flange members (26,27) are located over the ends (17,18)
of the housing with the apertures (28,29) in the flanges aligned
with ends (17,18) of the housing. At this position the first
coupling element 30 is able to move from being in a position wholly
within the housing 16, to a position wherein its head portion 32
engages the aperture 28 in the first position. The second coupling
element 43 is then secured to the seat 19 and the cap 47 secured to
the first coupling element 43. The hinge 10 is now fully
assembled.
The spring acts as a torsion spring and as such resists the motion
of its first end 21 relative to its second end 37. As the first end
is connected to the housing 16 through the seat 19 and the second
end 37 is connected to the first coupling element 30, the spring 20
biases the first coupling element 30 into a predetermined position
relative to the housing 16. However, when in the first position,
the first coupling element 30 is coupled relative to the second
hinge member 12 and as such the torque force of the spring 20 is
translated to the second hinge member 12. In this way, the spring
20 biases the hinge members (11,12) into a predetermined position
and the hinge is arranged that this position will correspond to
either the open or the closed position.
Furthermore, the actual torque acting on the hinge members (11,12)
can be varied by rotation of the first coupling element 30 relative
to the first and second flange member. This is achieved by forcing
the first coupling element 30 to the second position, against the
resistive force generated by compression of the spring 20. Once in
the second position the first coupling element 30 is uncoupled from
the second hinge member and is able to be rotated relative to both
the first and second hinge members.
To enable the first coupling element 30 to locate into the first
position it is necessary that the hexagonally shaped intermediate
section 39 is aligned to the hexagonally shaped portion 42 of the
aperture 28 and in the rotation of the first coupling element
through 360.degree., the head portion 32 will align in six
different positions with the hexagonally shaped portion 42 of the
aperture 28 and furthermore, at each different aligned position,
the torque acting from the spring on the first coupling element 30
will be different from the torque generated when the first coupling
element 30 is in any other of the aligned positions.
Once in any one of these aligned positions, the first coupling
element can be moved into the first position wherein the torque
force corresponding to that aligned position is translated to the
second hinge member 12.
Consequently, the hinge enables the torque force acting on the
hinge members to bias the hinge member 12 into either the open or
closed position to be varied. Furthermore, with the arrangement of
the coupling elements, all the bearing surfaces can be formed from
structural plastics material and furthermore the actual bearing
surface is greatly enlarged as compared to a typical hinge using a
hinge pin.
Furthermore, as the coupling elements and the hinge members can be
all formed from structural plastics and as the assembly of the
hinge is very simple, the hinge arrangement can be economically
manufactured and the applicant has found that the cost of
manufacture is approximately half that as compared to prior art
hinge arrangements incorporating a metal hinge pin and pressed
metal hinge members.
As shown in FIG. 6, a second embodiment of the present invention
incorporates two coupling elements 50, 51 at either end of a
cylindrical housing 52 which is effectively the same as cylindrical
housing 18 in the first embodiment. The coupling elements 50 and 51
are substantially identical to the coupling element 30 and operate
in a similar fashion. The advantage of having two coupling elements
one at each end of the cylindrical housing 52, can be explained as
follows. In the first embodiment it is only possible to adjust the
bias of the torsion spring 20 by inserting a screw driver into the
recess 40 and depressing the coupling element 30 so that the
engaging hexagonal surfaces of the intermediate section 39 and
hexagonally shaped portion 42 are disengaged. By turing the screw
driver, the coupling element 30 is also turned about its central
longitudinal axis, thus, its orientation is changed. Thus, by
releasing pressure on the coupling element 30, its intermediate
section 39 will again engage the hexagonally shaped portion 42.
But, because the torque applied by the torsion spring will now be
different, the result will be that the torsion spring 20 will bias
the second hinge member 12 in a different position with respect to
the first hinge member 11.
By having coupling elements at both ends of the cylindrical housing
52, the bias supplied by the torsion spring 20 can be changed at
either end of the cylindrical housing 52.
It should also be noted that in the second embodiment, the coupling
element 51 does not actually have its intermediate section 53
(corresponding to intermediate section 39 in FIGS. 1 to 4) shaped
to match that of the internal surface of the flange 55 of the
second hinge member (corresponding to flange 26 in the first
embodiment). Instead, the intermediate section 53 has its external
surface shaped to engage a matching shaped surface 54 of the first
hinge member. This ensures that one end of the torsion spring is
connected to the first hinge member 11 and the other end is
connected to the second hinge member 12.
* * * * *